i know but football is exception, their fans very negatively perceive naturalization issue in football, you can check it in russian sports portals where a lot of unpleasent comments written forward to football federation, you can't find people more nationalist than Russian
Here is a list of players who have made at least 15 league starts this season in the top 15 first tier leagues and top 4 second tier leagues (Spain/Germany/England/Italy). Code: Japan Inui Eibar Spain Kagawa Dortmund Germany Haraguchi Hertha BSC Germany Muto Mainz Germany Sakai Hamburger SV Germany Hasebe Frankfurt Germany Kiyotake Hannover Germany Sakai Hannover Germany Okazaki Leicester England Nagatomo Inter Italy Honda Milan Italy Havenaar ADO Den Haag Netherlands Kubo Young Boys Switzerland Minamino RB Salzburg Austria Australia Leckie Ingolstadt Germany Griffiths Roda JC Netherlands Behich Bursaspor Turkey Degenek 1860 Munich Germany (second division) Holland Duisburg Germany (second division) Luongo QPR England (second division) Wright Preston NE England (second division) Davidson Huddersfield England (second division) South Korea Koo Ja-cheol Augsburg Germany Hong Jeong-ho Augsburg Germany Kim Jin-su Hoffenheim Germany Ki Sung-yueng Swansea England Suk Hyun-jun Porto/Setubal Portugal Iran Jahanbakhsh AZ Alkmaar Netherlands Ansarifard Panionios Greece Haji Safi FSV Frankfurt Germany (second division) Uzbekistan Akhmedov Krasnodar Russia Denisov L. Moscow Russia Iraq Adnan Udinese Italy
We are starting to learn to play without him, but he is still a vital squad member at this stage. Even though he isn't the captain, he provides a hell of a lot of leadership both on and off the field. I think whoever we draw in the next round will struggle to take points off us in Australia. I would expect that we would gain at least 16 points in our home matches, maybe even 18 with a bit of luck. We do have to improve our away form a bit, we have been dropping points away from home and generally haven't played to our best in Asia for a while. In the next round all the teams we play will be similar or better quality than Jordan, so there will be no easy away games.
You have only 5 home games in next round. How you can get 16 or 18 home points in next round? btw, we also have to improve our away form.
here's UAE records against the remaining team excluding China UAE vs Australia: W:0 L:1 D:2 UAE vs Iran: W:0 L:8 D:3 UAE vs S.Korea: W:1 L:6 D:0 UAE vs Japan: W:3 L:3 D:7 (2015 QF counts as a draw) UAE vs Saudi Arabia: W:5 L:18 D:8 (the 96 Final counts as a draw) UAE vs Uzbekistan: W:5 L:2 D:3 UAE vs Qatar: W:9 L:12 D:7 UAE vs Iraq: W:6 L:8 D:6 UAE vs Syria: W:5 L:1 D:2 UAE vs Thailand: W:4 L:2 D:1 the top 3 teams I would like to face are (1) Saudi Arabia, (2) Japan (3) Australia
Sorry miscounted. For some reason I had in my mind six games rather than 6 teams in the group. Make that 13-15 points at home. You may have improved your home form, but we won't be playing you in the next round. I would expect you guys to qualify with a similar home record. I would think we would be having an off night if we could only manage a draw or lose to anyone outside the top four in Australia. I would be disappointed with a home loss to Iran, Japan or South Korea, but would be OK with a draw. I would be very happy to get a draw away to any of those teams, and be disappointed with a loss to someone outside the top 4 away, but would still expect to lose one away to them somewhere. I think 13 points at home and a further 8 points away would be good enough to make the World Cup as one of the top two teams.
Shut up! You're being too rational and logical for this thread. Don't you uzbekistan is gonna steamroll us all straight to the WC?
The Austrian League is outside the Top 15 leagues. Australian Apo Giannou made 18 starts in the Greek Super League and was second top scorer this season before heading to China in March.
Thanks. I'm surprised that Azmoun isn't on the list. Every Iranian fan talks about him as if he was a star in his team but....
You forgot about Hiroki Yamada. He plays for Karlsruher and has started 25 games in Bundesliga second division. He never gets called up for Japan, though.
If Iran ends up in a group with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria, it might be playing more games at neutral venues than anywhere else.
I got the schedule of next round for first pot teams Iran and Australia. I do not know the schedule for the teams of other pots yet. Here is the schedule for Iran in next round and Australians can understand their schedule in next round now: Iran vs Qatar or Iraq China or UAE vs Iran Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan vs Iran Iran vs Korea or Japan Syria or Thailand vs Iran Qatar or Iraq vs Iran Iran vs UAE or China Iran vs Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan Korea or Japan vs Iran Iran vs Syria or Thailand I put the host team first and the guest team second.
I hope that Japan is able to avoid a match against China. As it would again result in a Kung Fu match. Apart from China I do not care which team Japan will face in the next stage. A match between Japan and China is comparable to a match between Iran and an Arab country. You can be sure that blood will be spilt.
Watch Iran vs China 2004 match to know we experienced something similar. That was the only unpleasant encounter we had with Chinese.
I hope we get Iran rather than Australia, only because either will be our first match. We are likely to lose to both (we do draw Iran on a good day), but our second match will be at home 5 days later so we can't survive the long trip to Australia for the second vital match at home.